Are We Better Off Now? Lost Community Opportunity – Part 4

Over the years, the relationship between the Town and County cannot be characterized as positive.

An idea was presented separately to both governing bodies for a joint supported effort to reopen the Front Royal Youth Center.

It would be an excellent opportunity to mend the divisions between the governmental bodies and would significantly impact the youth in our community.

In March 2023, a group of concerned citizens and the founder and president of Reaching Out Now met to discuss some of the challenges facing our youth in the community. The discussion centered around what we could do to help the youth by providing them with the tools/skills to cope with these challenging times.

The strategy was supported by the creation of several small focus groups, with separate participation of teachers from various schools from 8th to 12th grades, individual students, and parents with kids currently enrolled in the public system.

The full results were presented to the Town and County elected officials individually through a series of small group meetings prior to the meeting with each of the represented boards. A recommendation was offered to financially support the reopening of the Santmyers Front Royal Youth Center building, which is owned by the County and not currently in use.

RON requested that the County rehab the current unused Youth center by replacing the flooring throughout the building, replacing the heating /HVAC systems, bathrooms/plumbing, and painting the facility. The County was asked to sign a tenant agreement with RON for 24 months for free rent for that term, showing their support of the center.

The request from RON was for the Towns to make a cash donation of $75k in 2023.

After the commitment was satisfied, neither the Town nor the County expected any other financial commitment, and RON would be in a position financially to self-fund the operation with no additional support required by either the County or Town.

A public input hearing by the Town was held, and the citizens spoke in full support.

The town’s donation was to pay part-time mentors to be available to the students during their time at the center. This would satisfy one of the focus groups’ major issues: the need for community mentors. Also, to supplement the center’s furnishing and IT/security requirements, they could not raise cash immediately or donate to open the center in August.

Neither the Town nor the County would be involved in any daily operations managed and operated by the RON organization and its Board of Directors.

The outcome of RONS efforts was the County fulfilled its commitment to improving the building and a 2-year lease with free rent for two years.

However, the Town made it very difficult for both the County and the RON organization by demanding a tri-party agreement based on the 1997 522 agreement between the town and county. The Town dragged out the progress between all three parties for months before the County and RON decided not to sign this unnecessary agreement. This resulted in the Town committing to only $25k in 2023.

The Town had a surprise opportunity to develop after they decided to make a $500k unexpected revenue windfall available. Some councilmen moved to support the funding of the additional $50k that could now be supported from the general fund. The majority of the Council and Mayor would not support this option, instead moving that money to the general fund for the town’s share contribution for the State Criser Road $3.5 million dollar sidewalk project to start three years from now.

We need to ask a couple of questions. Who are we as a community, and what is the role of our government in our everyday lives? These decisions help to form our identity as a town for what is important. Our elected officials are expected to create an environment that enhances the shared value of our community by providing a positive encouraging environment for our young people.

Warren County/Front Royal ranks very high by the State in the following categories:

• Community Divorce Rate
• Teenaged pregnancies
• Free school lunch programs are available
• Teenaged drug use, increased suicides
• School attendance below State standards

This creates a huge, complicated problem for communities to deal with as we try to figure out how to solve some of these problems, which deserve the full support of the Town Council.

Recently, the Town of Mt. Jackson’s Council took an aggressive position on this topic of helping to support their own Youth center by committing $50k each year for three years because they felt it was so important. The operation and management are run by the independent nonprofit organization “CREW,” like our “RON” organization. Front Royal is eight times larger than Mt. Jackson but has a greater focus on what is important for their community.

One of many sad outcomes is our Council missed an opportunity to work with the County to mend fences on a winning situation for the community to work together on something that is greatly needed and helps the youth in our community.

I am grateful that the council donated 1/3 of the expected support, but how they handled the process dampened the goodwill that could have been generated. Having an opportunity for the Town not to fulfill their full commitment to support is troubling. Even more so not considering the wisdom from the other council members to fully fund this worthwhile community need is also troubling.

We need a leadership change to stop the dysfunction and start moving the community toward addressing the real issues facing our Town.

This goes beyond party politics.

Michael Graham
Front Royal, VA

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